New Orleans Tour, Emeril's for Dinner and a Nightcap
After Mardi Gras world, we took the Mardi Gras shuttle back to Canal and walked over to the Huck Finn Restaurant to pick up our City and Cemetery tour. We ordered Boudin Wraps from Huck Finn, had a drink and by the time our food was ready the tour was ready too. We headed out on a little mini bus, sitting in the back to eat lunch as we toured.
John our tour guide was a local Cajun, he talked about living in the area, working a couple of jobs and just living the New Orleans life. As we drove down the road he talked about the historic sites around us. Laundromats that used to be recording studios, parks that were central in the practice of religion for slaves, and how New Orleans got it’s reputation for things like Voodoo. We passed by St Louis Number 1, but did not stop. (Leaving me very disappointed, I didn’t realize it was a different tour. ) We drove around the French Quarter, Canal, Rampart talking about the French and Spanish influence on the city, and why New Orleans has such a Caribbean influence.
When we booked our cruise, I’d seen an excursion called “Katrina tour”. I was horrified that the houses and landmarks of Katrina were considered excursion material. Well as the tour got underway, that was exactly where we were headed. I wasn’t sure what to think about it. As we headed towards the Lower 9 th Ward, John provided the context of the situation, showed us how to read the marks on the house showing when they were finally rescued, and talked about home owner responsibility after the flood. He talked about how we were limited to where we could go, as the city has put limitations on tour operators to let people have their lives back.
While it was informative and I learned a lot about Katrina that I didn’t know, it was still stomach churning to see dilapidated houses crumbling and homes with signs out front asking for financial donation for recovery assistance.
From there we drove out to St Louis Number 3, which was our Cemetery tour. Cemeteries in Seattle have the occasional famous grave and people who go seeking them out. New Orleans has tours of their Cemeteries, in part because of the architecture. In a city built on swamp land, burying bodies in the ground doesn’t work out well. So they have formal catholic cemeteries with mausoleums built out of marble and stone. Incredible intricate, they are family burial places intended to satisfy the burying needs of the family for life. (The Prudhomme family tomb for example)
After St Louis Number 3, we went to City Park a 1300 acre public park in the middle of the city. We drove around a bit and looked at the Christmas decorations, then made a stop at Morning Call coffee stand for beignets and coffee. (Again, white apron service, at a concession in a city park. That would never fly in Seattle!) Morning Call is open 24 hours a day, and I romanticized the idea of 2am beignets with a loved one. The park has a petting zoo, crystal gardens, a sculpture garden and much more. I think we could probably spend an entire day enjoying it. Instead we headed back onto the bus where we drove through the Garden District and by Tulane University on our way back to the original pick up point. From there Mike and I headed back to the Airbnb to get ready for Dinner at Emerils.
Dinner at Emerils.
Mike and I celebrate our anniversary as the day after Thanksgiving, no matter what the actual date is. It’s easy to remember and ensures we always have a 3 day weekend for our anniversary. Since this years Anniversary was so close to our time in New Orleans, we opted to celebrate with dinner at Emerils. We both got dressed up and arrived at Emerils NOLA for an 8:30 reservation.
We started with drinks in the bar, a Basil Lemonade for me, a Blackberry Smash for Mike. Once we were seated at our table we were officially introduced to our serving team of 3. We started with a cheese board of four cheeses with relish, BBQ shrimp with rosemary biscuit and duck liver toasts. The cheeses each came with an individual pairing for example: Vella Jack, with Roasted Corn, Poblano and Bread and Butter Pickle Salsa. They’ve changed out the menu, so I can’t speak to what cheeses we had, but we liked them all. The BBQ shrimp were amazing, with a Worcestershire style bbq sauce that was amazing, and the cutest little rosemary biscuit. The duck liver toasts were only ok, I found the stack to be difficult to eat and that there were too many flavors competing.
Dinner was a truffle fried chicken for 2, with “All the fixings” . In this case, a crock of beans, a jar of coleslaw, and a crock of macaroni and cheese. The chicken was well cooked, savory and not overpowered with truffle. It was incredible. We topped the evening off with a piece of banana cream pie for Mike and a creme de menth martini for me. (Not actually what I ordered, but I wasn’t going to send stuff back)
We ended dinner happy and full. I spent a lot of time just enjoying the restaurant, peering into the kitchen and soaking it all in. I was encouraged to take pictures of the kitchen, but didn’t want to be that person. Service was ok, but not amazing despite the three person team. Mike kept having to ask for refills of his diet coke. (How hard is it to keep that refilled?) I got served the wrong drink. On the other hand, they kept apologizing for how long our dinner took in coming out to us, and they were nice and apologetic every time we reminded them about the soda. We also noted how nicely everyone was dressed. Not a pair of jeans or gym shoes to be seen on the patrons. Very un-Seattle like.
A Nightcap.
We wandered over to Harrahs on our way back to the Airbnb. Mike wanted to hit the craps table, and I just wanted to sit and soak in the energy. I got a hurricane at the bar and settled in, he hit the tables briefly. It’s an interesting location, with all the feels of a big Vegas casino. We snagged a cab from the hotel, and headed home.
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Cabs in New Orleans.
We evidently stayed in a “sketchy” area. Of the cabs that we took to the Airbnb, one drove away with the door open to get away from the place, another asked us repeatedly if we really wanted to stay there. Interesting. That said, we were in the Bywater neighborhood, and it was a sleepy little mashup of Seattle’s Fremont and Ranier Valley.
Cabs were fairly easy to come by, either by calling the cab company directly, picking one up at Harrahs or another transportation hub. Most were friendly, one did rip me off , securing an extra 5 in tip, when he dropped us off from the airport. It turned out that cabs and walking were really all the transportation we needed in New Orleans.